Green+Technology

Inspired by the humble old greenhouse, a futuristic self-contained food ecosystem offers us a glimpse at a how we might one day have "farm to table" on our apartment block rooftops or in space-poor urban areas. Think of it as a tiny house of produce.

They may be better known for stir-fries than supercomputing, but shiitake mushrooms have now been harnessed to function as living processors, storing and recalling data like a semiconductor chip but with almost no environmental footprint.

You don’t become one of the world’s top motorcycle component manufacturers for nothing. Brembo's new 100% recycled aluminum brake calliper reduces brake caliper life cycle emissions by up to 70% without sacrificing performance or design. A clear win-win.

Using a new technique called nanoscale fletching, scientist have created a high-performing nonstick coating that repels water and oil – without the PFAS profile. It's a big step toward the elusive "holy grail" of a safer, greener Teflon.

You won't need a green thumb, floor space or any serious commitment in order to create a thriving indoors oasis with this functional vertical garden. And you also won't need a lot of spare cash either, with the whole kit coming in at around $85.

While the island has 0.37% the land size of the US, Taiwan has become a hub for startups, sustainable design and tech innovation. This week, 600 inventions will vie for the 'gold medal' – the Platinum Award – at the massive Taiwan Innotech Expo.

Bill Gates has thrown his weight – and his money – behind a startup making a rich, fatty spread akin to butter, using just carbon dioxide and hydrogen. And this is just the start, with milk, ice-cream, cheese, meat and plant oils also in development.

Your boots may soon have a tropical touch, with a breakthrough in using pineapple leaves to make a strong, 100% natural, sustainable leather. It comprehensively outperformed mushroom leather, and has serious potential for scalable, commercial use.

Nylon can be found everywhere in modern life, from the clothes we wear to the seatbelts in our cars. The problem is that producing it can be a dirty business, but researchers say a new method can make nylon production significantly greener.

In an effort to create low-cost, sustainable housing, researchers have created a composite material by replacing sand in concrete and mortar with a common, non-degradable waste product: used disposable diapers. But would you build your house with it?

Beautifully designed, energy-generating bio-panels that suck up carbon dioxide and pump out biomass for use as fuel or fertilizer – that's the idea behind Mexican startup Greenfluidics and its nanotech-enhanced microalgae bioreactor building panels.